


loose strings

by veLEvet



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Red String of Fate, Side Ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 03:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15877887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veLEvet/pseuds/veLEvet
Summary: Everyone is born with a red looplet around their finger, and one day that string will lead to someone else.Haseul doesn't have a looplet. She hates seeing all the strings, too.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> have a twoshot. i should be doing homework

Haseul wouldn't believe in the red string of fate if she wasn't one of the few people cursed with the ability to see them.

Everyone is supposed to be born with a small red looplet around their finger, visible only to them. When they reach a certain age, the looplet grows a semitransparent string that leads somewhere, untethered, impossible to truly track. The string becomes a vibrant red when you encounter your soulmate and it latches to their looplet. The strings are always private; the only people able to see it are you, your soulmate, and occasionally, if you have a truly strong trust with someone, you can see theirs too. Except there are a few people born in the world who can see everyone's strings.

Haseul is one of them.

She finds out she has this ability when she meets this girl on her first ever day of school, a girl who insists on being called Yves. Yves is a little older than Haseul, and aside from the extreme perseverance to go by some nickname, Yves seems a little wiser. So when Haseul grows curious and reaches out for Yves's hand while they sit on the floor to eat from their lunchboxes and tugs at the red looplet, Yves sets Haseul straight.

"Why do you have this red string around your finger?" Haseul asks innocently, looking over Yves's hand in both of her own.

Yves blinks. "You… can see it?"

Haseul nods. "It's pretty! Can you tie one around mine too?" She holds out her hand for Yves, a wide smile on her face.

"Everyone should have one. Don't you have your own?"

Haseul's eyes suddenly go wide. "...Was it a homework assignment to bring red string to class?"

"No…" Yves shakes her head, "You're born with it. Everyone is. When you grow older, it connects you with your soulmate!"

Haseul looks at her hands and purses her lips. "I don't have one…"

Yves frowns to hear that, and she puts her sandwich back into her ziplock bag and stands up, pulling Haseul with her to the teacher. "Miss Ahn!" Yves calls for her, "Do you have red string? I wanna make my friend a loop!"

Miss Ahn seems surprised, knowing that everyone should already have their looplet, but she takes one look at Haseul's eager face and smiles, moving to the arts and crafts bin in the corner of the class to hand Yves a bundle of red yarn. "Don't use more than you need."

Haseul gets a red string that day, but it doesn't last.

* * *

When Haseul grows older and reaches high school, she watches as some of her friends from the grade below her receive their translucent strings. Heejin gets hers first, and Haseul's eyes widen to see a pink, transparent line extend from Heejin's ring finger. She always thought that the red string of fate was some elaborate ruse that everyone tries to trick her with, but Heejin's is the first time she believes it. Heejin acts differently the day she gets it, eager and filled with more energy than usual. She doesn't expect anyone to understand either, since no one else can see, but Haseul sees. Haseul sees it clearly.

Haseul also watches as Hyunjin receives hers a few months later, and then they all meet up for lunch that day, Haseul sees the two pink lines of Heejin and Hyunjin's fingers connect and form a bright red tether between the two of them. Haseul's secret comes out before she can stop herself.

"You two are soulmates." Haseul suddenly blurts the second she sees their red strings connect.

Heejin scrunches her nose to hear such a thing. "What?"

Haseul points to the space between their hands. "Your strings."

Heejin and Hyunjin both look down, seeing how there's a new red line connecting their ring fingers. They only notice it then, thanks to Haseul telling them, and after lunch, after the surprise wears away a little and they think more about the situation and how they came to realize they're each others' soulmates, they both direct their attention back to Haseul. Something isn't adding up.

"If you can see ours, why can't we see yours?" Hyunjin asks, confused, "We're supposed to be close, aren't we?"

Haseul grins faintly, but it's forced and bittersweet as she lifts up her hand. "I see everyone's. We are close, but even if you could see mine… there's nothing here for you to see."

They both express sympathy for Haseul, Heejin more so than Hyunjin, but Haseul waves their concern off and instead tries to redirect the spotlight back on to them, insisting they be happy for themselves and for each other. When Heejin and Haseul say goodbye to Hyunjin and head to their gym class together, Haseul even slips Heejin an old giftcard she had in her purse for some restaurant, insisting that Heejin use it to take Hyunjin out and celebrate.

When Heejin shows up to their shared health class the next day and throws the giftcard back on Haseul's desk, saying with a smile that Hyunjin refused to be taken to Applebee's on their first date and dragged Heejin someplace else, Haseul just laughs.

Maybe she does believe in soulmates a little more after that.

* * *

Haseul doesn't get to see much of Sooyoung during high school. Their schedules always end up being the exact opposite- their lunch times don't even add up -and Sooyoung's always busy with sports and Haseul's always busy studying. They manage to find some time on a weekend to go out for lunch together, and they finally get to catch up.

"Hyunjin and Heejin are soulmates." Haseul says suddenly well into their lunch, with her mouth full of salad.

"Are they?" Sooyoung repeats and eventually nods, "Good for them. They seem like a good match."

"Can you believe that? Finding your soulmate when you're only, what, fifteen?" Haseul shakes her head a little at the thought. She's still vaguely bitter about the idea of soulmates with her curse and her lack of string, and maybe because she doesn't have one, she's talked herself into not wanting one.

"They are pretty young to be finding out who they'll be spending the rest of their lives with." Sooyoung agrees, though there's a hint of restraint to her voice. She's been making a conscious effort to hide her left hand from Haseul the whole lunch.

"Half the time I don't even want to spend the rest of my life with  _me_ , much less add another person into the equation…"

Sooyoung just laughs and relaxes a little. "Can't relate."

"Not everyone else is as egotistic as you are."

"Not everyone else is as amazing as I am."

Haseul rolls her eyes and smiles to herself. "Your soulmate is going to have a fun time with you, I can tell."

Sooyoung just shrugs, smiling too. "She seems to like me very much, thank you."

An admission like that makes Haseul raise an eyebrow curiously. "'She'?" Haseul asks, interest bleeding into her voice, "You've met her already?"

Sooyoung finally slips her left hand from out of her coat pocket so Haseul can see the bright red string leading somewhere out of the restaurant. "Remember that exchange student I told you about in my theatre class?"

"Vivi?" Haseul already knows the answer.

"We became linked on her eighteenth birthday." Sooyoung quirks a brow teasingly, "She told me I was the best present she could've ever received."

"I hope you gave her a receipt so she could return you someday." Haseul teases back, laughing faintly into her drink as she raises her glass to her lips.

"Oh, shut up, Haseul! I'm a catch!"

Haseul rolls her eyes and looks away, waving Sooyoung off. "Ah, please… I've been trying to lose you ever since I reeled you in back in kindergarten."

Sooyoung places a hand over her chest and feigns offense. "Really? Even after I tied our fingers together and made myself your first soulmate?"

"'First' soulmate?" Haseul repeats, incredulous. Her gaze drops down her plate of food and she sighs, her smile turning bittersweet as she thinks of her bare ring finger, "You're probably my only soulmate…"

Sooyoung glances at Haseul's hands on the table and frowns. They were close enough where even if Haseul couldn't see everyone's strings, she'd at least be able to see Sooyoung's now. She sees the complete absence of color to Haseul's left hand and softens her expression out of sympathy.

It seems as if Haseul really is cursed to be alone.

* * *

University proves to be a bigger punch in the face to Haseul's curse.

Students in high school are normally too young to find their soulmates- Heejin and Hyunjin are just a special case. The pink strings only form between one's later teenage years, so Haseul didn't have to always see pink strings or red strings during high school save for a few rare occasions. When she gets to college, everything changes.

Everyone has a pink string. Haseul sees them everywhere. She walks through them on the way to class. And for every four pink strings Haseul sees, she sees a vibrant red one too, taunting her, mocking her, lingering around her at all times. Vivi and Sooyoung end up attending Haseul's rival school, and once Heejin and Hyunjin graduate, they join Haseul at her university. Even being around her friends can be suffocating just to see all those strings, seeing everyone's soulmate or seeing that they're promised a soulmate in the future. Haseul's talked herself out of wanting one, but she can barely breathe when her whole life is just strings and soulmates and strings and soulmates. She curses everyone else who doesn't have to see everyone's strings, or even those people who have unbreakable bonds with their friends and yet are unable to see strings but their own. Haseul has to see every string every second of every day. She hates it.

In her classes, Haseul always insists on a seat in the front, and if seating is assigned, she begs her professors to let her sit in the front row. In the front row, Haseul only has to see the professor's string. If she sits in the back, she has to see dozens of strings leading everywhere. Her whole life becomes avoiding strings. It's so exhausting, and Haseul just wishes she could take scissors to everyone's strings just so she doesn't have to see them. Too bad the strings weren't tangible…

Haseul studies music and psychology at university, but she doesn't get the opportunity to take many psychology classes until her second year because of general classes she's forced to take first. On the first day of her neurology class her second year, Haseul sits in the front as usual and tries to ignore everyone else coming in. The professor is late, and it's about seven minutes past the start time when the door opens again, and Haseul looks over for some reason, probably because she wants to see what asshole professor just wasted her time like that, but instead it's another student who just walks in. The student- tall, blonde, and obviously exhausted -just freezes as she looks at the empty front of the room, seeing no professor. Haseul is the first person that blonde sees, and the blonde makes eye contact with her and points at the empty podium with her free hand.

"Is he really not here yet?" The blonde asks, eyebrows furrowed.

Haseul just shakes her head. The blonde just shrugs and makes her way to the seat next to Haseul; since she's late, that's the only seat left to take, everyone else trying to stay away from the front if possible.

"I'm impressed. Normally  _I'm_ the late one." The blonde says as she sits down. She sighs as she accepts her fate in the front row. "Sad. I was hoping to sit in the back and doze off in the middle of class… Can't do that when I'm in the front."

Haseul smiles faintly to herself and shakes her head, amused. She expects that to be the end of the conversation, a mutual bonding over the pain of staying awake during class, but Haseul instead watches as the blonde pulls the lid off her coffee and pulls a can from her bag, opening it and pouring the energy drink straight into the coffee. Haseul raises an eyebrow and opens her mouth to speak, but she can't say anything. She can only just watch, stunned into silence and frankly very concerned for this blonde girl sitting next to her.

"I'm gonna die." The blonde says before taking a drink of the unholy concoction she just made, and she glances at Haseul once she swallows down that nasty taste, catching sight of Haseul's horrified expression. She can only laugh at the sight of it, "Relax! It's not my first time mixing energy drinks and espresso."

Haseul just blinks, shaking her head with her mouth still open. "That… only makes me more concerned…"

The blonde laughs again. "Me too, honestly. But you know how uni's like." She taps her temple, telling Haseul to think it over.

"I guess…" Haseul shivers at the thought.

The blonde grabs her cup and holds it out for Haseul, laughing to herself under her breath, trying to hide it. "What, wanna try a little?"

"And make my heart stop from caffeine overload?" Haseul asks incredulously, looking between the girl and the coffee. Her expression falls, however, when she realizes that dying would get her out of her classes for the semester. "...On second thought, let me give that a shot…"

Haseul gets handed the coffee and she takes a sip, squeezing her eyes tightly shut at the bitter taste and trying to air out her tongue to get the taste off her tastebuds. "That's horrid." She pauses and blinks, sitting up a little straighter, "...But it really does wake you up."

"Right?" The blonde laughs again. Haseul realizes that she laughs a lot, though she doesn't really mind it. "I'm Jinsoul."

Haseul looks Jinsoul over once that taste is out of her mouth, and she flashes a brief grin. "Haseul."

Jinsoul smiles too, bright and vaguely lopsided, but before she can say anything, the door opens behind her and the professor walks in, not caring that he was ten minutes late. Jinsoul glances back at Haseul while she pulls out her laptop to take notes, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Let's hope we can last this whole class without crashing and passing out on the counters from the mix." She teases, a playful grin on her lips.

Haseul's eyes widen. "There's a crash?!" She asks in a hushed whisper.

"Oh, a terrible one…" Jinsoul laughs.

Haseul curses this Jinsoul, curses how she talked her into drinking from that evil brew, and she ultimately just focuses on her notebook when the professor hands out his syllabus. The professor goes over the syllabus in about ten minutes before he starts his lecture, and Haseul hears Jinsoul typing down her notes for the first few minutes of the lecture, but she glances over halfway through the lecture to see how Jinsoul's watching cat video compilations off of Youtube, and Haseul just wonders how this girl hasn't flunked out yet.

Haseul admittedly grows distracted by the cat videos, watching a few in between powerpoint slides, and she finds herself smiling and biting down on her tongue to stop herself from laughing at a few of them. Jinsoul watches a full thirty minute compilation video and goes to the search bar to look for something else, and Haseul glances over to see Jinsoul type, and that's when she freezes, eyes shooting wide at what she sees.

No string shoots out from Jinsoul's finger. There's no pink or red trail. There's just the mere red looplet around her left finger, leading nowhere. By their age, everyone receives their pink or red trails. Unless Jinsoul is one of those gifted students who's only like sixteen in advanced college courses, but Haseul looks Jinsoul over again and knows there's no way she's younger than twenty.

But no. There's just a looplet around Jinsoul's finger.

And Haseul smiles to see it.

She isn't the only defected one when it comes to those damn red strings.

* * *

Cat videos and deadly caffeine mixes don't quite help Jinsoul become a better student. She's struggling to understand the material,  _Because you're too busy watching vines in the middle of class_ , Haseul always tells her, but Haseul always helps her anyways. They grow closer because they study together, and at first Haseul is a little wary to help, concerned that Jinsoul is just using her to save her grades and to do the work for her, but along the way Haseul sees how much Jinsoul cares about the subject but just hates class. Haseul can respect that. Haseul comes to love their study sessions together. Studying with Jinsoul makes things seem less stressful, even if they accidentally watch vine compilations until 11:30pm and fuck, they have an assignment due at 11:59-

Haseul just laughs when she gets hers in at 11:59:37 and Jinsoul's gets in at 12:00:01. Jinsoul almost cries right there on the spot. Haseul just wraps her arm around Jinsoul, helping her calm down as she uses her free hand to type up an email on Jinsoul's laptop to their professor, saying how problems with the internet delayed her submission until two seconds after the deadline. The excuse works, and the two of them just laugh about it afterwards, promising to hold off on the vine compilations until  _after_  they submit their assignments.

Even if studying with Jinsoul makes cramming and last-minute assignments less stressful than they should be, finals turn out to be hell for them both. For once, Haseul feels like she's gonna lose herself to her stress, or to death, if she keeps drinking Jinsoul's energy drink-coffee mixtures. They study in Haseul's dorm, her roommate returning back home for the weekend before finals, with Jinsoul using Haseul's desk and Haseul sitting on her bed. They study for four hours together, taking minimal breaks and doing their best to absorb every ounce of information they can. Eventually Jinsoul closes her textbook and smiles widely, clapping her hands together and sounding absolutely ecstatic.

"I finished reading all the chapters!" She exclaims, "And I actually understand it!"

Jinsoul looks over at Haseul, expecting to hear Haseul subtly gloat by saying she finished reviewing the textbook an hour ago and was moving on to study something else for the class but still remaining happy for her for finishing, but instead Jinsoul just watches Haseul close her eyes and cover her face with her hands, letting out a frustrated whimper. Jinsoul immediately freezes, blinking from surprise, utterly shocked that Haseul is the one stuck learning and that Jinsoul is the one actually doing okay for herself. As she's frozen, Haseul closes her laptop and pushes it closer to the edge of the bed to give herself space, and she just leans over, keeping her face covered.

"I'm only on chapter four…" Haseul says weakly, voice breaking and mixed with something Jinsoul can't recognize right away. When Jinsoul sees Haseul pull her hands away and moving to just cover her mouth, Jinsoul notices the redness of Haseul's face and the way Haseul draws in a sudden breath, like she's sniffling. That causes Jinsoul to jump out of her chair and immediately join Haseul on the bed, wrapping her arms around Haseul's shoulders.

"Chapter four… that's… that's just a little under a third of the way there! You're just taking your time!" Jinsoul forces a smile and a laugh, squeezing Haseul's arms, "I probably skimmed through it far too quickly! I'm gonna fail at this rate if I don't read harder. You're doing better than me!"

Haseul just shakes her head, refusing to look Jinsoul in the eye. "No, Jinsoul… I forget everything and I'm just getting more and more confused as I go along… I don't understand half of this anymore." She admits, moving to grip the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes.

"Hey, don't say that…" Jinsoul frowns, pursing her lips as she tries to think of ways to cheer Haseul up, "I can help you go over it! I only understand it because you taught it to me earlier in the semester, so if I just use your own words against you… that should help!"

"We've been here for hours, Jinsoul…" Haseul mutters, "I'm not going to waste any more of your time."

Jinsoul frowns deeper, lowering her gaze away from Haseul. "It's not a waste of my time… You spent all that time teaching me this stuff. I'd be happy to do it back."

Haseul finally glances over at Jinsoul cautiously, skeptic to believe Jinsoul's words. "You really would…?"

Jinsoul can see the redness around Haseul's eyes, and the glossiness that shrouds the almond brown her eyes used to be. It makes Jinsoul want to frown even harder at the sight, but she forces a smile instead to show Haseul she means it. "Yeah! I'd love to!" Quickly she glances away, and she pulls out her phone from her pocket and unlocks it, bringing up a page in her web browser, "Look! This cat's trying to fit into a box! It's  _way_ too large for that box!"

Haseul snorts, unable to believe Jinsoul is trying to use a cat video to cheer her up, but she indulges Jinsoul and watches it, and it ends up bringing a wide smile to Haseul's face. She still sniffles, residual from crying before, and she wipes at her eyes and tries to get herself back together. "It broke the box…" She laughs weakly, seeing the video loop to show that moment again.

"I know. It needs a bigger box." Jinsoul laughs a little too. She pulls up Youtube on her phone and finds a short compilation of more videos, only about ten minutes long, "Come on, let's take a little break before we continue studying."

Haseul just nods, and she rests her head on Jinsoul's shoulder as Jinsoul holds the phone between them so they can watch together. Haseul finds herself laughing and cheering up with each little clip. Her head feels a little more cleared and she feels like she has a better mindset going into studying when Jinsoul reaches for Haseul's textbook and opens it again for them. Haseul moves a little further away to give Jinsoul more space to join her on the bed, and they sit shoulder to shoulder as Jinsoul points to various sections and diagrams to go over.

"How did you phrase this to me again…?" Jinsoul asks herself, and she's able to find the words with ease in a matter of seconds.

Haseul just looks at Jinsoul and smiles every time she recalls some of her words, and as her gaze follows Jinsoul's hand as she points to a picture in the textbook, Haseul can't help but look at the red loop around Jinsoul's finger. Haseul draws in a breath at the sight, letting out a soft sigh.

Whoever turns out to be on the end of that red string one day will be so lucky to have Jinsoul as their soulmate.

* * *

When they become upperclassmen, Haseul and Jinsoul decide to move into the campus apartments together. It's a pleasant change, being able to have a larger living space and some independence from the university. They're also given the opportunity to cook for themselves and to finally be free of that cafeteria food. That's probably the most attractive quality for Haseul. Jinsoul likes the idea because students are allowed to have pets in the apartments. She doesn't tell Haseul about her plans immediately, but she does someday.

Haseul and Jinsoul end up taking many of the same classes together, both having degrees in psychology, and they develop a system that they perfect together. They work for a few hours or until a certain checkpoint in their assignments, and then they watch some sort of video or TV show as a reward before calling it a night or before going back to work. They don't have many assignments for their shared class together one night, but they just work in each other's presence anyways, and eventually time rolls around for their break.

Haseul pulls up a cat compilation video for them to watch, her turn to decide what to do during break, and about five minutes in, Haseul glances over to Jinsoul to see Jinsoul with a wistful look on her face.

Haseul furrows her eyebrows out of concern and pauses the video, turning to face Jinsoul. "What's wrong? Normally you're dying from cuteness overload or laughter by now."

Jinsoul pouts her lower lip and crosses her arms, staring at the screen instead of Haseul. "I want a cat." She says, sounding like a five year old kid with how she says it.

Haseul's silent for a second, and she turns back to the screen, thinking it over. Soon she just shrugs, tapping her lip with her finger. "We can get one."

Jinsoul gasps to hear that, covering her mouth with her hands. "You mean it?"

That brings a smile to Haseul's face and she nods. "Of course. I've been watching so many of these that I really want one too… Can you just promise me one thing?"

"Anything. Honest to god anything." Jinsoul nods rigorously, "Name your terms and I will abide."

Haseul laughs to hear that. "Just promise me we won't argue over the name?"

Jinsoul nods completely seriously. "Yes. Of course. We will be great parents to our little Oliver."

"Oliver?!" Haseul repeats with near disgust, "No! We're naming it Mittens!"

"Everyone and their mother has a cat named Mittens!" Jinsoul protests, sticking out her tongue, "We're gonna be unique with our name! Oliver!"

"Oliver isn't a unique name either." Haseul lets out a huff and turns away as she crosses her arms, "I want our cat to be named Mittens."

Jinsoul crosses her arms too, lifting her chin in protest. "And  _I_  want our cat to be named Oliver."

They never solve their argument. They just ending up getting two cats.

* * *

Her music classes will end up being the death of her.

Haseul returns to her apartment after she suffers through her nightly voice class, and she unlocks the door only to be assaulted by the faint smell of something on fire.

"Jinsoul?" Haseul calls out into her apartment, "Have you eaten yet? I'm starving and exhausted."

Jinsoul jogs out of the kitchen into the living room, an apron tied around her waist and a smile on her lips. Oliver follows her, rubbing up against Jinsoul's leg. "Hi! I made dinner!"

Haseul blinks before narrowing her eyes. Jinsoul never makes dinner. She's not allowed to make dinner. "Is that why the apartment smells like it's on fire?"

Jinsoul's smile turns nervous and she looks down at her feet. "I burned dinner."

Yet Haseul just smiles amusedly. "It was a thoughtful attempt."

"I wanted to surprise you when you came back from your night class because I know it's hell." Jinsoul scratches her cheek and forces a smile to her lips again, "Here I thought it was hard to mess up making lasagna too… But not to worry! Pizza Hut is on its way."

Haseul lowers her head out of view and grins to herself, trying to hide a smile that wide from Jinsoul. "Well, I really appreciate that you tried… It's really sweet."

"And I put out the fire in the kitchen too, so we're fine. It just still kinda smells like a fire. It should go away soon."

"I hope you know we'll get fined for messing this place up."

"I fixed it, I fixed it! Have a little faith in me for once."

Haseul smiles again, and she walks further into the living room as an excuse to keep her face away from Jinsoul. "So what did you order?"

"Ahh… Let's see…" Jinsoul taps her chin, "I got some chicken alfredo, some wings, some soda, a large pizza, breadsticks…"

Haseul furrows her eyebrows to herself. "That's a lot of food."

Jinsoul smiles faintly. "I couldn't decide. Oh! And I got you cinnamon sticks too. I know those are your favorite."

Haseul feels her chest go warm to hear it, but she tries to play it off. "Good, because I was going to be really mad if you didn't get me those cinnamon sticks."

"I wouldn't forget!" Jinsoul beams, though that nervous attitude returns soon enough, "And, ah… can I borrow forty dollars? I need it for the order. I would pay for it myself, buuut Spotify emptied my bank account for Premium."

"Forty dollars…?" Haseul looks over her shoulder at Jinsoul, "Do you really think we can eat that much food?"

Jinsoul shrugs. "Leftovers for a couple days…?"

Letting out a sigh, Haseul has to agree. "Yeah, you got a point. Makes up for the hefty bill that  _I_  have to cover."

"You're the beeeest." Jinsoul hums with a smile, trying to make Haseul less reluctant.

Haseul smiles to herself and rolls her eyes as she digs through her purse to get her wallet. "You're lucky I love you."

"I love you too!" Jinsoul replies eagerly.

Haseul feels a sharp pain in her left ring finger once those words leave Jinsoul's mouth, and she winces and pulls it out of her purse, expecting to have cut herself somewhere inside, but she sees how there's no mark on her finger. It's odd, but Haseul shrugs it off. She finds her wallet and carefully pulls it out, not wanting to hurt herself again.

They pay for the food once it all arrives, and they spread everything out on their coffee table in the living room and put on some movie for them to watch together. Haseul leans into Jinsoul's side as they eat, nothing new to the two of them. Haseul starts to lose interest as the movie goes on; the acting is bad, the writing is bad, the graphics are bad… Haseul just can't be damned to pay attention anymore.

She can tell Jinsoul feels similarly since Jinsoul focuses more on what she'll eat next than the plot, and considering it's the part of the movie where the protagonists face off against the villains for the first time, it's a rather odd time for Jinsoul to be eyeing the pizza and the chicken alfredo if she truly cares about the movie.

Haseul watches as Jinsoul reaches out for another slice of pizza, but Haseul swats her hand away. "Hey. We have to keep leftovers. I'm gonna be real mad if we don't have anything left over for these upcoming days when this was all so expensive."

Jinsoul instead directs her hand to pick up the pan of chicken alfredo. "I wanted this more anyways."

Haseul grins slightly, and the two of them seem to focus back on the movie. Except Haseul's gaze moves to Jinsoul's left hand holding the pan of pasta as she eats, and she can't help but look at the red loop around her hand. She's been curious about it ever since she met Jinsoul, yet she's never mustered the courage to ask about it.

"Hey, Jinsoul?"

Haseul's response is a soft grunt from a mouthful of food. It makes Haseul smile faintly.

"What's with your looplet?"

Jinsoul slows her chewing, turning to look at Haseul, confused by where the conversation is headed. "...You can see it?" Her gaze drifts to Haseul's hands, seeing nothing there. Jinsoul sets her pan of pasta down, figuring it's best she doesn't get distracted, "Wait… how come I can't see yours?"

"I don't have one. There's nothing there for to see." Haseul lets out a sigh, glancing away, "I can see everyone's strings. I noticed yours didn't have a color trail the day we met. It confuses me. Everyone else I see our age has a pink or red string already, but you…"

"I don't have a trail, yeah." Jinsoul presses her lips into a thin line and shrugs, "You're supposed to get your first trail when you're, like, mentally or emotionally ready to encounter your soulmate. I've always been a little clueless, so I guess I'm just not ready for mine yet. I don't know. I try not to worry too much over it."

Haseul frowns to hear the sadness and quietness to Jinsoul's voice as she talks. It seems like Jinsoul's been ruffled over her string as much as Haseul's been over her own. "Or maybe your soulmate isn't ready for you…?"

Jinsoul smiles at the attempt to cheer her up, but it's fleeting and it vanishes within seconds as she glances away, scratching behind her ear. "Yeah, maybe… But someone less emotionally ready than I am? Sounds impossible if you ask me."

"I'm sorry to hear it." Haseul looks down at her hands, wringing them in the silence between them, "I've always been upset about not even having a looplet. I eventually just talked myself out of wanting a soulmate to deal with it."

"You don't want one?" Jinsoul asks, tilting her head.

Haseul shakes her head and shrugs, feeling a little ridiculous as she talks. "I mean… I'm perfectly content with my friends and with my family. I don't need a partner or spouse or whatever. I'm happy as I am…" Yet her voice betrays those words with how it breaks, "Besides… People date and marry against their red strings all the time. If I really wanted someone, I could find someone. I don't need a piece of silly string telling me how to feel."

Jinsoul giggles to hear that, but she tries to stifle her laughter, covering her mouth with a hand. Haseul just looks at her with a smile, eyebrows raised. "What?"

Slowly lowering her hand, Jinsoul tries to speak without laughing, but her words come out choked with a giggle regardless. "Silly string…"

Haseul shakes her head and nudges Jinsoul with her elbow for that. "Shut up… You know what I mean."

"Yeah, b-but… silly string…!" Jinsoul doesn't hold back her laughter this time, "But I agree. This string is super ridiculous." She lifts her hand closer to her face, looking the red loop around her ring finger over, "Sometimes I wish I could just cut this thing off."

"If I had one, I would think similarly…" Haseul hums, and she leans closer into Jinsoul's side, "If I want to date someone, I don't want to be bound by a string. I want options, you know?"

Jinsoul smiles to that and nods. "Yeah, it kinda sucks, only getting one person. I would rather date who I choose, not who a string chooses for me."

A question hangs at the tip of Haseul's tongue, and she slowly looks up at Jinsoul to glance her features over. "Have you ever met someone who you'd choose if not for the string?"

Jinsoul falls silent for a moment, keeping her eyes trained ahead of her. An apology is already halfway out of Haseul's mouth for overstepping with a question like that, but Jinsoul cuts her off, finally replying, "Yeah. I have."

Haseul just frowns, and she wraps her arms around Jinsoul's, holding onto it tightly. "I wish things were easier when it comes to love."

Jinsoul rests her head against Haseul's and lets out a sigh. "Yeah… Me too."

Haseul swallows down the nerves that surface in her all of a sudden, and she moves a little closer into Jinsoul's side to get truly comfortable. "Whoever you end up with, chosen by the string or not, they'd be lucky to have you." She whispers, finding it odd how her mouth goes dry as she says it, or how her chest feels warm to say it too.

And despite all of Jinsoul's attempts to hide it, Haseul can feel Jinsoul's breath hitch, though she truly thinks nothing of it.

"And I hope that you'll still find someone, even if the string never appears."

Haseul grins faintly before her eyes shut, and she can barely keep track of the movie's plot before she eventually dozes off where she sits next to Jinsoul.

* * *

Haseul always wakes up first. Jinsoul tries to get as much sleep as possible before she has to wake up, but Haseul always wakes up early enough where she has time to spare. But after their conversation about their strings the night before, Jinsoul wakes up first, nudging Haseul awake too.

"Psst, Seulie, wake up…" Jinsoul whispers, nudging Haseul's shoulder.

Haseul squeezes her eyes shut even tighter, slowly stirring from her sleep. "Leave me alone…"

Jinsoul just laughs. "Aw, Seulie, you aren't happy to see me?"

When Haseul opens her eyes, they shoot daggers at Jinsoul for that comment. "No."

"...Ouch." But Jinsoul doesn't let that bother her for long. She simply kneels down by the couch where Haseul's laying, resting her arms on her knees. "It's seven. I figured you wanted up in time for your class."

Haseul slowly pushes herself up to sit, stretching out the soreness in her muscles from sleeping on the couch. "Why are you up so early…? You don't have a class until eleven…"

"Because you fell asleep out here and you didn't have an alarm." Jinsoul explains as if it's supposed to be obvious. "Sorry I ditched you, though. I wanted to sleep on a bed. Call me selfish."

Haseul laughs and rubs at her eyes. "Selfish."

Jinsoul just shrugs with a hint of a grin to her lips. "I deserve that."

"But still… thanks for waking me. I would've slept straight through class at this rate…" Haseul runs a hand through her hair, and she watches as Jinsoul's face flashes with surprise before she ultimately frowns at Haseul.

"Hey… You told me you didn't have a looplet." Jinsoul comments sadly, "You didn't have to lie to me just to make me feel better that I couldn't see yours yet."

Haseul's sleepy enough that her response is a little snappy as she furrows her eyebrows. "I didn't lie. I don't have a looplet."

"Yes, you do!" Jinsoul insists, pointing at Haseul's hand, "It's right there!"

Haseul yawns as she indulges Jinsoul, glancing at her hand, but she's immediately woken up fully by the sight of a red looplet tied around her left finger. Haseul looks at it in disbelief, her mouth hanging open and her eyebrows creased. "It… was not here yesterday, I promise."

"You really didn't have a looplet until now?" Jinsoul asks, just as confused as Haseul.

Haseul shakes her head slowly. "No… I never had a looplet, not in twenty-one years…"

"Huh." Jinsoul smacks her lips, deciding that the train of thought was too advanced for her, "Wonder what changed…"

Haseul looks down at her hand, wondering the same thing. "Yeah… me too."

"Guess that means you're gonna have to listen to the string now." Jinsoul teases with a smile, "You got a soulmate out there."

"Please…" Haseul laughs softly, "I still won't listen to this silly string."

Jinsoul stifles another giggle. "Silly string…"

Haseul shoves Jinsoul's shoulder with a roll of her eyes, yet there's still a smile on her lips as she does so. Jinsoul falls back onto the carpet, and she slowly rolls over to push herself to her feet. "Welp, I'm exhausted, and I don't have class for four hours, so I'm going back to sleep."

"Sleep well." Haseul says softly as Jinsoul leaves. Jinsoul just offers Haseul a peace sign as she walks out, and soon Haseul is left on her own, staring down at her own hand.

Why does she suddenly have a looplet?


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haseul's red string.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have an assignment due in five hours what am i doing

Only one thought crosses Haseul's mind on her walk to class. She pulls out her phone and calls a number she admittedly hasn't called in a while, but she knows she can turn to her for help.

Luckily, Sooyoung answers at the last ring.

"I'm gonna murder you…" Sooyoung groans into the mic of her phone, her voice addled with sleep.

"That would be a fantastic way to solve my problems, actually." Haseul says in a flat voice.

"Fatalistic humor is rarely your thing… Something must really be wrong." Sooyoung groans again, "Especially when you try calling me at seven in the morning…"

Haseul frowns slightly, feeling bad for waking Sooyoung. "I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, promise… But I really can't think straight right now."

There's a soft voice on the other line, and Haseul doesn't recognize it as Sooyoung's. The voice that follows, however, is Sooyoung's.

"Go back to sleep, baby…" Sooyoung says softly, "I need to help Haseul with something. I'll join you soon."

"Oh… Hi, Seul!"

Haseul's eyes narrow. This is a major TMI… "Hi, Vivi. Sorry to wake you and Sooyoung. I'm sure you two were having a wonderful time sleeping together."

"Is that sarcasm I hear?" Sooyoung asks in a drawl, laughing into the mic, "You really are in trouble…"

Haseul catches her tone and she lets out a sigh. "Again, I'm really sorry. I just didn't know who else to talk to about this…"

"Hey, put the phone on speaker… I wanna help." Vivi says a little louder, and Haseul can hear covers shift on the other line.

"Is that alright, Haseul?" Sooyoung asks first.

Haseul just shakes her head and shrugs. "Sure, I could use another opinion."

"What's up, Seul?" Vivi asks now that she can hear Haseul over the phone.

"I have a loop."

"Wait, you got a  _what_  now?" Sooyoung blurts out.

"A loop. A red one. On my left ring finger. The soulmate thing. The red string of fate, or whatever. I have one." Haseul says rapidly, unable to believe it, even when she looks down at her hand.

"Ah, I'm happy for you, Seul! It's about time!" Vivi claps her hands together.

Sooyoung pauses before she speaks up in a cautious voice. "...Is that a good thing, Haseul?"

"Why on earth would I get a loop now, of all times? I don't even want it!" Haseul wants to just scream, the whole situation frustrating her.

"Then I'm not happy for you. Let's cut it off." Vivi cuts in instead.

Sooyoung laughs faintly but she changes tune shortly enough. "That really is weird… Are you sure your roommate didn't just tie one on you as a practical joke? She kinda seems like the type…"

Haseul shakes her head incredulously. "I… I got no clue. I think it's real. Besides, we had this huge conversation last night about strings… And she sounded really upset this morning when she thought I lied to her because she could see a loop around my finger but there was nothing there last night…"

"Seul…" Vivi begins hesitantly, not wanting to overstep but wanting to voice her thoughts nonetheless, "I get that this is a big deal, but… why is it such a bad thing?"

Haseul smiles weakly and shrugs. "I don't know… I thought I finally accepted that I would be alone for the rest of my life… but now I might have a soulmate after all. I haven't had this hope my whole life… It's scary. I don't know what on earth is happening and I'm afraid I'll hate whoever this string attaches me to."

"The string hasn't really failed anyone yet. Take me and SooSoo as an example." Vivi says gently, "You won't hate whoever is on the other end. It might take time to bond, but you'll like them, whoever they are."

Haseul winces and sticks out her tongue. "SooSoo… That's gross…"

Sooyoung just lets out a loud laugh. "Yeah, just give it time, Haseul. The string's got a plan, and you just gotta wait for it to get put into motion."

Vivi joins in after Sooyoung. "Besides, isn't it exciting? You finally get a chance to find your soulmate! It really is the best feeling, falling in love with the person the universe picked for you…"

Sooyoung laughs softly. "Aww, I love you too, Vivi…"

Haseul playfully rolls her eyes. "You're right, you're right… Maybe it won't be that bad…"

"Do you have a pink string yet, Seul?" Vivi asks curiously.

Haseul shakes her head. "Just the loop."

"You're getting a late start, but at least you have one." Sooyoung jokes, "You'll live, Haseul. And if your soulmate really is terrible, we'll set their car on fire for you."

"Aww, thanks, SooSoo. That's so sweet…" Haseul laughs to herself, shaking her head faintly, "I'm sorry for waking you over nothing… I'll let you two get back to sleep."

"You're fine. Happy to help." Sooyoung says, though her tone takes an odd shift, "Although, we are pretty awake now… I don't think we'll be getting much sleep."

Vivi's voice mirrors the same playful nature. "I guess we'll just have to do something else until class…"

"I have a few ideas in mind…"

"Oo, I can't wait!"

Haseul can hear kissing noises over the phone and she almost throws her phone into the lake on campus she just walks past. "S-Stop it! I-I can still hear you!"

Sooyoung just breaks out into a laugh. "I can't believe you actually fell for that!"

Haseul can hear Vivi giggle too, and now she really wants to throw her phone into the lake. "You two are terrible…"

"Love you too, Seul!" Vivi laughs.

"And hey, let us know when you find that soulmate of yours. We'll have to go on a double date sometime." Sooyoung teases, "Catch up with you later?"

Haseul smiles faintly at the thought. "Yeah, let's grab coffee together sometime. Thanks for all your help, Eevee."

"Eevee?" Vivi repeats with an amused gasp.

"S-Shut up, Haseul! I don't go by that anymore!" Sooyoung growls into the phone.

Haseul laughs to hear Sooyoung so flustered. "Aww, Eevee and Vivi, how cute… I'll see you later!"

"Go grab coffee by yourself, while you're at it!" Sooyoung growls again.

Haseul rolls her eyes and smiles to herself as she lowers her phone from her ear. "Bye now." She hums, pressing the end call button.

Haseul lets out a deep breath before looking ahead, a ghost of a grin still on her lips.

Maybe the soulmate thing won't be too bad…

* * *

The strings no longer suffocate her as much, she realizes.

Sure, they're overwhelming still, but Haseul doesn't despise them like she once did. She's no longer so jaded, so jealous, so bitter to see everyone else matched up while she wilted alone. There's a hope now in the darkness, a chance at love she wouldn't let herself see before. She hates how a stupid string is what makes her realize that she can still have love and be worthy of it, but she starts to think that maybe she can find herself someone to love after all, and that she doesn't have to always be alone. She can be a little selfish and want someone all to herself, instead of playing the selfless friend who spends their days alone to make sure her friends are all happy together. It puts a spring to her step and it fills her with such a childlike curiosity; who could her soulmate be?

More often than Haseul cares to admit, Haseul sees someone without a red trail and wonders what they'd be like as a soulmate. Could it be that girl practicing in one of the rooms in the building playing her violin so beautifully? Or the boy that sits in the library reading a book for his literature class? Haseul sees a few people across campus, and if they're pretty, Haseul almost wishes she'd have a chance with them. It fills her with such a vibrant curiosity, and Haseul just wants to know the answer. She wants her pink string. She wants her red string. Everything that Haseul cursed before, Haseul wants now. It feels so extreme, but she can't help it. It feels like a second chance.

Later that day, when Haseul and Jinsoul have their class together, Jinsoul slides into the chair next to Haseul and places a cup in front of Haseul on the desk. Haseul looks up to see Jinsoul next to her, grinning faintly and gesturing to the cup.

"I figured you were still kinda shaken about the whole string thing, so I wanted to get you something to cheer you up." Jinsoul says, a soft look in her eyes.

Haseul's eyes widen in surprise, and she looks over at the cup and reaches out for it hesitantly, so touched that she can barely wrap her head around the situation. Her cheeks feel a little warm as she touches the hot cup, too.

Jinsoul sees Haseul hesitate and she just laughs. "Don't worry, there's no Monster in it this time. I snuck into the Honors student's lounge and used their Keurig. It should taste like peppermint? Perfect for the winter."

Haseul smiles faintly, amused by how Jinsoul reads her hesitation. She takes a sip of the coffee, and Jinsoul's right. It does taste like peppermint and it makes her feel so warm inside. "You're too sweet…" Haseul murmurs, though eventually she glances at Jinsoul questioningly, "Wait, what do you mean, 'snuck in'? You  _are_ an Honors student."

Jinsoul blinks before her eyes go wide in realization. "Oh yeah… No wonder the lady in the office next to the lounge saw me sneaking around and didn't stop me…"

"I can see how it's easy to forget…" Haseul teases and nudges Jinsoul with her elbow, "Don't worry, I appreciate how you were willing to break in to steal coffee for me. Even if you weren't actually breaking in."

"It's the thought that counts!" Jinsoul laughs, smiling widely.

Haseul smiles too, and the warm feeling in her chest and in her cheeks spread further at the sight of Jinsoul's wide smile, of the dimples on her cheeks, of her eyebrows turning upwards, and of the way she can see a hint of that scar in between Jinsoul's eyes when she smiles wide enough…

Haseul has that thought again, of how lucky Jinsoul's soulmate will be when they find her, but this time that thought leaves her a little saddened, and Haseul doesn't really know why it makes her shoulders slump and her heart sink. She just knows that whoever Jinsoul is linked with, they don't know how lucky they truly are…

* * *

Finals for the fall semester roll around again, and their living room becomes overrun with papers and notes and everything littered everywhere. Oliver's been sleeping on Haseul's sheet music for her violin class for two hours. Mittens keeps trying to sit on Jinsoul's laptop keyboard. Everything is a mess in their apartment. Haseul doesn't even remember she has a violin class. She's trying too hard to understand this behavioral science textbook.

One night, deep into their study sessions, Jinsoul eventually gives up and sets her laptop down, letting Mittens sit on it and type her final paper for her. She lets out a sigh and glances over at Haseul, who's sitting on the floor, finally able to practice her violin after someone- Oliver -bit through her bow last week.

"Seulie…" Jinsoul whines, resting her elbows on her knees and setting her chin over her fists, "Can we have a break? I'm getting nowhere and I don't understand science."

"Sounds like a rough realization for a science major." Haseul teases, but she sets her violin in its case and closes it so no cat can have a snack on her instrument again. She gets up, stretching some and pulling her hair back to put it up into a ponytail. Jinsoul glances away as Haseul does so, and Haseul pays it no heed as she sits down next to Jinsoul on the couch. "What are you feeling today? Cats? Vines? Another episode of some cartoon from our childhood?"

Jinsoul purses her lips. "I wanna watch more Kim Possible, but Mittens is busy writing my final paper for my English class so we can't use my laptop…"

Haseul glances over to see Mittens sitting on Jinsoul's laptop, and she can see the random letters filling that word document she's on. She smiles faintly at the sight, and she pulls out her phone instead. "Don't worry, I'll find a site to pirate it off of."

"I hope she writes me an A* paper…" Jinsoul murmurs, looking at Mittens still.

Haseul purses her lips. "I don't know… Oliver's the smarter one, sadly. Can you take a C?"

"A  _C?_ " Jinsoul repeats and closes her eyes with a heavy sigh, "I don't want a C…!"

"Too bad, because that's the letter that Mittens has been typing into your word doc for the last ten pages…" Haseul laughs.

Jinsoul snaps her fingers at Mittens. "Heeey, start hitting that A key. I want an A. Please. I'm begging."

"I'll help you look over it later and make sure no trace of Mittens remains in your paper." Haseul flashes a grin to try and cheer Jinsoul up, "I'm sure you'll get an A."

"Thanks." Jinsoul breathes, "Let's hope."

Haseul's grin widens to see Jinsoul seem a bit more hopeful, and she pulls up an episode list of Kim Possible for them to watch. "Hm… I think we're on the movie now. Do we watch the whole thing?"

Jinsoul nods weakly, and she grabs a blanket off of the top of the couch and wraps herself in it. She holds it open for Haseul too, and Haseul slips underneath it next to Jinsoul, wrapping herself in the rest of the blanket. Jinsoul nestles herself into Haseul's side, and Haseul feels something strange in her chest, a breathlessness that she's never really felt before. She shakes her head and focuses instead on the screen that's playing the movie.

As the movie plays, Jinsoul keeps adjusting how she sits, growing uncomfortable after too long. Each time she has to resituate herself, she ends up pressing further against Haseul, and there comes a point where Jinsoul links her arm with Haseul's and rests her head on Haseul's shoulder. Haseul grows used to Jinsoul sitting close to her after a little while, but each time Jinsoul moves, Haseul feels that feeling in her chest again, and it takes some time to go away. She's having trouble not focusing on it, and eventually she just looks over at Jinsoul, watching her as she watches the movie. Jinsoul's gaze is intense, especially during the fight scene, and Haseul flashes a small smile at the sight. She takes in the sight of Jinsoul's features, the creased brow in concentration, the hint of that scar on her forehead, the way her lips are parted so slightly as she watches the movie… and Haseul remains fixated on her lips, not wanting to look away. Instead she gets a strong impulse in her head, a voice telling her to seek those lips out and to kiss her.

Haseul almost gives into that voice, and she even leans in, but she catches herself and turns away, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. She questions what came over her, that strange urge that almost made her do something so reckless, and in a fit of desperation she chalks it up to something caused by the stress of finals. Anything to excuse what she almost did…

It's still hard to focus after that, and Haseul grows a little too eager to return to studying after the movie finishes, and she tries to ignore the frown on Jinsoul's face when she worms her way from out under the blanket, leaving Jinsoul alone on the couch again.

* * *

The next day, Jinsoul and Haseul wake up at the same time for their classes, and Jinsoul comes knocking on Haseul's door. It's early and Haseul is still tired, but she wants to hear what Jinsoul's so excited about anyways.

"Come in." Haseul speaks as loudly as her tired voice lets her.

Jinsoul bursts in, and she holds her left hand in her right, and she holds her left hand out for Haseul to see. "Look! I got the pink string!"

Haseul looks up and has to blink to focus her vision, and sure enough she sees the pink string right there on Jinsoul's ring finger. Her reaction is delayed by her sleepiness, and instead Jinsoul speaks up again. "Finally, right?! My string isn't defected anymore! I might actually have a soulmate now!"

Haseul flashes a sleepy grin. "That's great!"

Jinsoul nods quickly. "Both of our strings are fixed now! I know it's kinda wrong of me to say after I dissed the strings like a month or so ago, but it finally works! They're out there somewhere, I know it now!"

"I'm happy for you, Jinsoul." Haseul smiles a little wider, "They're going to be so lucky to have you."

Unable to contain herself, Jinsoul leaps forward and wraps her arms around Haseul in an excited hug. Jinsoul almost picks Haseul up off the ground and spins her, but she restrains herself at the last minute. "Your soulmate is going to be so lucky too, you know." Jinsoul says in a softer voice after calming down slightly, "You'll get your pink string soon too, I just know it."

"You get your pink string after so many years, and your first thought is to reassure me of mine…" Haseul whispers softly, tightening her arms around Jinsoul, "You're too sweet…"

Jinsoul laughs sheepishly and pulls away, keeping her gaze on the ground. "Oh, shush… Not as sweet as you, Seulie."

Haseul's eyes widen and she draws in a sharp breath to hear those words, but before she can say anything and break herself out of her stunned silence, Jinsoul speaks up again, hurriedly. "S-Sorry for bursting in like that… I was just really excited and I wanted to show you. I'll let you get dressed…"

Haseul finally snaps herself out of it, and she just smiles warmly, trying to reassure Jinsoul. "You should be excited. I'm really happy for you."

There's a moment when Jinsoul just smiles back, bashful and barely able to hold Haseul's gaze, but she ends up breaking away before long and she makes her way to Haseul's door. "I need to get ready for class..! Let me know when you're done and we can walk over!"

Haseul just smiles and nods, watching as Jinsoul leaves and shuts the door behind her. Her expression falls once she's alone, and she recognizes a feeling that surfaced inside of her throughout the whole conversation.

Sadness. Dread. Jealousy…

Jinsoul's one step closer to meeting her soulmate, and it just saddens Haseul, and Haseul begins to understand why, no matter how badly she doesn't want it to be true.

Jinsoul's string is leading her somewhere else, but Haseul wants it to lead to her.

Haseul wants to be on the other side of Jinsoul's string.

* * *

Haseul knows she's gonna get murdered for it, but that's a far more desirable fate than the one that currently awaits her. Jinsoul's building for class is far closer to the apartments than Haseul's so she spends a good portion of her walk to class alone, giving her the perfect opportunity to call Sooyoung again.

Haseul doesn't even wait for Sooyoung to speak when she picks up, effectively cutting Sooyoung off. " _Please_  murder me. I know you want to. I'm begging you."

"I was already awake before you called, moron." Sooyoung almost audibly rolls her eyes, "Vivi and I are grabbing breakfast."

"As long as you end me before lunchtime, I'm happy." Haseul groans, "I'll even leave Mittens for you in my will."

Sooyoung lets out a sigh and puts her phone on speaker, setting the phone between her and Vivi. "Haseul's going through another crisis."

"What's the sitch, Seul?" Vivi asks, concerned.

Haseul grimaces to hear that, the memories of the night prior flooding back to her. "Please don't say that… It's too much."

"Someone's a Kim Possible anti." Sooyoung comments dryly, "What's got you in a mess this time, Haseul?"

"I-I think I'm falling for someone who isn't my soulmate." Haseul blurts out quickly, her words slurring together from how fast she speaks.

"Wait, what was that?" Sooyoung asks.

"I'm starting to really like someone who isn't my soulmate…" Haseul repeats, a bit slower this time, "Can I go back to wanting to be alone for the rest of my life? Admittedly, that's not half as painful as wanting to be with someone who can't be mine is in retrospect."

"Haseul…" Vivi begins cautiously, "Who are you starting to fall for?"

Haseul squeezes her eyes shut. Admitting it makes it real, but she has to be honest. "Jinsoul…"

"Jinsoul? As in, roommate Jinsoul?" Sooyoung asks, "Wasn't her string defunct? She isn't supposed to have a soulmate."

Haseul hangs her head and sighs, feeling a wave of sadness come over her. "She got her pink string this morning… That's why I'm such a mess."

"Seul… I'm so sorry…" Vivi whispers, voice barely audible enough to be picked up by the mic.

"The 'spending the rest of my life alone' thing doesn't sound so bad anymore. I'd like to go back to it. It was a happier time." Haseul sighs again.

"There's someone out for you, Haseul. That brand new red loop around your finger proves it." Sooyoung cuts in, speaking a lot more gently than before, "Yeah, it really sucks that it's not Jinsoul, but you'll be happy with them too."

"I'm happy with Jinsoul." Haseul protests, "We're so happy together… We do our homework together and we eat together and we go to class together… We even have two cats in our apartment together. I don't want to lose that."

"You have cats…?  _Two_ cats?" Sooyoung asks, surprised.

Haseul furrows her eyebrows. "Yeah… Jinsoul and I adopted two a little while after moving in."

"You hated cats growing up…" Sooyoung says quietly.

Haseul can only shrug and smile emptily. "She wanted one so badly, Sooyoung… She almost cried watching a video of cats because she wanted one of her own. I couldn't tell her no."

"She sounds really important to you." Vivi whispers, "But… who knows? Maybe Jinsoul would be willing to ignore her red string for you?"

"That's a tall order to ask anybody, Vivi…" Haseul's smile turns bitter and hopeless, "She was so excited to find out she had a soulmate waiting for her this morning. I can't… I couldn't ask her to give all that up, and for  _me_ , no less…"

"Give yourself some more credit, Haseul. You might not be a catch like me, but you're still a catch." Sooyoung teases, trying to cheer Haseul up.

It works, and Haseul laughs faintly. "That might be one of the nicest things you've ever said to me."

"That's kind of pathetic if that's really the nicest thing you've told Seul, Eevee." Vivi's frown is audible in her voice.

"S-Shh! We're in public! Don't say that name so loud!" Sooyoung orders in a hushed whisper.

Haseul laughs a little louder. "Eevee, Eevee, Eevee. Serves you right for being so cocky…"

Sooyoung groans from embarrassment. "Sheesh… That's the last time I'm ever nice to you…"

Haseul hears a plate and silverware clatter before Vivi speaks up again in a tight voice. "What was that, Eevee?"

"I-I said I love you, Seul!" Sooyoung chokes out, "I love being nice to you!"

"That's better." Vivi says, and Haseul can hear Sooyoung let out a relieved sigh. She doesn't want to know what on earth is happening on the other line.

"What do I do…?" Haseul says once things die down a little, "I can't say anything… I don't want to make her choose between me and her soulmate."

"If you want to be with her, she'll have to make the decision eventually." Sooyoung says.

Haseul stammers trying to think of an excuse. "Well, yeah, but… I don't want to force her to decide by forcing my feelings on her… She needs to decide that for herself."

"Seul kinda has a point, SooSoo…" Vivi admits softly, "It's a little unfair to force Jinsoul to choose."

Sooyoung sighs, seeing the truth in their words. "Alright, then maybe stay quiet for a little longer, but  _not_  to the point of it hurting you to keep your silence, okay? You don't want to be unfair to Jinsoul but you can't be unfair to yourself either."

Haseul lets out a shaky breath, realizing what she has to do. "Yeah… I'll keep that in mind."

"Try and hold out for the holidays, okay?" Vivi tries to lighten the mood, "We'll do something for Christmas. All of us. We'll make sure you're okay then."

"The holidays, huh…?" Haseul repeats to herself. It's a few weeks away… She can probably last that long. "Alright, I can make that work. I could use some time to relax…"

"Yeah, we'll all relax together. It'll be fun." Sooyoung's voice perks up a bit near the end, "Stay strong, Haseul. You'll get through it."

"I hope you're right…" Haseul mutters, "I really hope you are…"

* * *

Finals week is over before Haseul knows it, and it's finally holiday season. Sooyoung and Vivi invite her over a few times during the winter break, and they tell Haseul of a Christmas party that they want to throw. They say that they even reached out to Heejin and Hyunjin, who said yes to going. Haseul hasn't talked to them in so long, so she's excited to see them again. It feels like old times, and Haseul is looking forward to a break from her stupid feelings with her old friends.

But the morning of the party, Haseul's texting Jinsoul and Jinsoul lets it slip that her parents and brother got snowed in, and their plane won't make it in that night. Jinsoul insists that it's fine, it's only Christmas Eve and they'll be back tomorrow, but Haseul still feels bad for her. Against her better judgment, Haseul asks Vivi and Sooyoung if it's alright for Jinsoul to join them for the party, and even though they're reluctant for Haseul's sake, they see how determined Haseul is to cheer Jinsoul up, and they agree. Jinsoul even tries to decline, but Haseul insists, and next thing either of them know they're at the party together, playing a card game with the others.

"I will flip this table if you put that card down."

"We're sitting on the floor, Hyunjin…"

"Shut up, Haseul. You know what I mean."

Haseul just looks between Hyunjin and Vivi with concern. She's long since accepted that she's going to lose this round of Uno, but Hyunjin and Vivi are both determined to win, far more than anyone else is. Sooyoung even quits, leaving to go fill up her glass of eggnog. Heejin is practically the only thing preventing Hyunjin from jumping Vivi, and Jinsoul just looks very lost and confused in this group of new people.

Vivi holds a card between her fingers, and her expression is completely blank as she holds it menacingly above the pile.

"Don't do it. You better not do it." Hyunjin threatens, shaking her head and lifting her chin.

Vivi doesn't listen. Instead, she just puts down the +4 card onto the pile, speaking with no interest to her voice. "Uno."

Hyunjin screams and throws her hand of cards down before she lunges at Vivi, and Heejin screams in shock before reaching out for Hyunjin. Haseul just crawls back, horrified to see the scene play out in front of her. Jinsoul still looks lost. Sooyoung's cheering for Vivi from where she's sitting on the couch.

Eventually, and that only happens when Heejin, Jinsoul, and Haseul all team up to pry Hyunjin off of Vivi, everything calms down again. Haseul's still frazzled, and frankly, she needs a break.

"I'll…" Haseul begins, standing up, "I'll be right back…"

She leaves for the hallway of Sooyoung's apartment and finds herself in the bathroom, and she closes the door behind her, walking forward to lean over the counter. She closes her eyes and lets out a heavy exhale, relieved for some time to herself. It feels like a breath of fresh air to not be around everyone, and as much as she hates to admit it, that all too familiar feeling of the strings suffocating her resurfaced ever since Haseul realized what she felt for Jinsoul. She's being taunted again, taunted by people who have the person who they want, but not Haseul. Haseul will never have who she wants, and instead she has to watch as that person finds her soulmate…

Haseul doesn't know how long she's been away, but she's roused from her thoughts by a knock on the bathroom door, and Haseul jumps at the noise. A voice hesitantly sounds from behind the door.

"Seulie…?" It's Jinsoul, and Haseul just closes her eyes and lets out a shaky breath. "Is everything alright…?"

Haseul nervously tries to find her words. "Ah… Yeah, everything's fine, Jinsoul… Don't worry about me!"

Haseul hopes it's enough for Jinsoul to leave, she prays for it, but Jinsoul has other plans. "Can I come in?"

And Haseul hates how she can't say no. "...It's unlocked."

Jinsoul slowly opens the door and peeks her head in, and she spots Haseul gripping the edge of the counter and leaning over it, which only makes her frown. She closes the door behind her and walks inside, hesitantly approaching Haseul. "Are you okay?"

Haseul lets out a sigh and nods faintly, keeping her gaze plastered on the marble countertop below her. "Yeah. I just… have a lot on my mind." She smiles weakly, "I'm surprised you managed to slip away."

Jinsoul smiles at the thought. "Well… Sooyoung's drinking scotch, and Hyunjin and Vivi and Heejin are all fighting over something, so it was fairly easily to sneak over here." Her voice lowers, becoming much quieter, "You were gone for a while, so I wanted to make sure you were okay…"

It brings a wry smile to Haseul's face. "You really are too sweet…"

Jinsoul leans her back against the counter, keeping her eyes on Haseul. Her gaze is concerned, her brows furrowed. "What's on your mind?"

"A lot of things." Haseul says, trying her best to be as vague as possible, "It's really hard to say."

"It's about your soulmate, isn't it." Jinsoul asks, and based on the lack of intonation to her voice, she knows the answer.

Haseul lets out a frustrated sigh and closes her eyes. "I wish it wasn't. There are more important things to care about in life than some stupid soulmate. I don't have time to be so worked up about it."

"Oh…" Jinsoul says weakly, and she turns away, looking down at her hands, "I see…"

It's an odd response from Jinsoul, and Haseul looks over to see how Jinsoul looks hurt, and Haseul immediately shifts in attitude, moving to Jinsoul's side and placing her hand on her arm. "No, no, that's not what I mean, I-" She lets out a sigh, frustrated with herself for upsetting Jinsoul, "Soulmates are important. They really are. They make you happy and they're supposed to be your other half. I just… I just wish I wasn't so fixated over this 'soulmate' thing. I'm almost too worked up over it, and it's really frustrating."

"I figured." Jinsoul nods slowly, "I would be frustrated too, if I were you. These past few months must've been a rollercoaster when it comes to those strings."

"More than you can imagine." Haseul whispers, though she wonders if Jinsoul can even hear her, "I know you're really excited for yours."

Jinsoul smiles. "I can't help but wonder what they're going to be like… I really want to meet them."

Haseul smiles faintly too, and she wraps her arms around Jinsoul, pulling her into a side-hug. "I know they're going to love you with all of their heart. You deserve nothing less."

Jinsoul laughs sheepishly at the comment, swaying in Haseul's arms from fluster. "Aww, come on… Stop that." She smiles a little, "I came in here to comfort you, so why are you the one hugging me?"

"Because I want to." Haseul grins and looks up at Jinsoul, resting her chin on Jinsoul's shoulder.

Jinsoul laughs loudly to that and she has to look away, though she leans into Haseul's touch. "Well, as long as you're cheered up, I don't really care how or why it happened!"

Haseul's gaze softens the more she looks at Jinsoul, and for once, she's happy that she just has Jinsoul in her life in any capacity, even if it isn't as her soulmate. "Thanks, Jinsoul. I'm glad you came to snap me out of it… I feel a lot better because of you."

Jinsoul smiles faintly to herself, able to meet Haseul's eye for only a few moments before she has to look away. There's a hint of red on her cheeks too, though Haseul doesn't really notice. "Heh, no prob… I'm happy to help, Seulie."

Haseul's chest flutters to hear the nickname, and she tilts her head at Jinsoul. "Should we head back out and make sure they haven't all murdered each other yet?"

"Ah, probably… The last I saw before slipping away was Hyunjin pulling Vivi's hair…" Jinsoul winces at the memory.

"Yeah, we should go." Haseul says suddenly, and she grabs Jinsoul's hand and pulls her out of the bathroom with her, and they head back to the living room together. They stop in the doorframe, surprised to see everyone sitting in a circle and getting along. And no one is dead, either.

Jinsoul lifts a finger and points at Hyunjin, who looks completely calm. "How did she…"

Heejin just sighs. "Sooyoung gave her some of her scotch to calm down." She shakes Hyunjin's shoulder, barely getting a response from her, "We think she's a sleepy drunk."

"I need a nap…" Hyunjin yawns.

Sooyoung just flashes a crooked smile at Haseul, holding her arms out in a fake bow. "You're welcome."

"I never said thanks." Haseul shakes her head fondly. She takes a step forward so she can join everyone again, but a voice stops her.

"Hey, wait, you can't move!" Vivi says all of a sudden.

Haseul freezes midstep and Jinsoul raises her hands over her head like a cop just stopped her. Haseul looks over at Jinsoul and furrows her eyebrows. That's an odd reflex…

"Whatever I did, I didn't do it." Jinsoul shakes her head insistently, hands on her head.

The question hangs on the tip of Haseul's tongue, to ask about why she can't move, but Vivi answers it without Haseul needing to ask. Vivi points a finger to the ceiling, and Haseul immediately feels her heart drop to her stomach as she glances upward, seeing the devil's plant hanging in the doorframe.

Haseul knows her face loses all color at the sight, and she quickly gauges Jinsoul's reaction, and Jinsoul is just staring at the mistletoe, lips pursed, seemingly studying it.

Heejin speaks up suddenly, and she swats Vivi in the shoulder. "They don't have to do anything, let them sit."

Sooyoung looks at Heejin before slowly directing her gaze over towards Haseul and Jinsoul. She doesn't say anything, but rather she just observes.

Haseul's sure she's as stiff as a log when she lets herself take a full glance at Jinsoul, and Jinsoul's finally looking at her, expression unbothered and calm as always. Haseul, on the other hand, looks as white as a sheet as if she's just seen a ghost, mouth agape in shock as she looks at Jinsoul.

"It's a silly tradition." Jinsoul shrugs with pursed lips, voice containing no sign of anything beyond the ordinary, "I don't have a problem with it."

Haseul forces herself to swallow down her nerves, and her voice comes out hoarse when she replies, "I-I don't… I don't have one either."

There's a second of hesitation or otherwise uncertainty before Jinsoul steps forward, taking Haseul's cheeks in her hands as she leans in and kisses Haseul gently. Haseul can't even close her eyes, completely and utterly stunned by the fleeting brush of their lips that sends such a spark through her that it paralyzes her. She's only able to let her eyes flutter shut a mere instant before Jinsoul pulls away, and Haseul leans in at that last moment, wanting the kiss to linger for just a little while longer until Jinsoul fully parts from her and walks back to others, seemingly much more composed than Haseul is.

Haseul opens her eyes once the contact is fully gone, and they're wide and stunned as she looks between Sooyoung and Vivi in a panic. Sooyoung takes this as her cry for help, and she sets down her glass of scotch, an otherwise impossible feat to get them to part, before walking to Haseul's side and linking her arm with Haseul's.

"Wow, we need to get that lipstick off your face, Seul!" Sooyoung says as an excuse. Vivi gets up and joins on the other side of Haseul, and the two of them drag the frozen Haseul back into the hallway.

Jinsoul touches her lips and looks down at her fingertips, seeing no color there. "I'm not wearing any lipstick…"

"Not after kissing Haseul, you aren't!" Vivi interjects, and it seems to persuade Jinsoul, who just shrugs.

They drag Haseul into their bedroom, and once the door is shut, Haseul blinks and suddenly snaps out of it, though she's still very frazzled.

"How're you holding up, champ?" Sooyoung asks, guiding Haseul to sit on the edge of the bed.

Haseul scoffs, though it's forced and awkward. "I'm fine, pfft… It's a stupid plant tradition. I don't care."

Sooyoung smirks knowingly and tilts her head at Haseul. "Is that why you look like you're gonna cry? Because you don't care?"

Haseul looks away and huffs. "I'm not going to cry…"

Vivi places her hand on Haseul's back, rubbing gentle circles over it to calm Haseul. "Are you okay? You looked really frazzled the whole time…"

"You were the one who forced us to kiss under the mistletoe. That's on you." Haseul narrows her eyes at Vivi before turning away.

"I didn't think you two would actually do it… Neither of you really seemed like the type to make a first move." Vivi frowns.

"I can make a first move…" Haseul protests with another huff.

"You almost cried kissing Jinsoul." Sooyoung says flatly.

Haseul ignores that blatantly. "Anyways, it's just a kiss… It means nothing. You can see with how Jinsoul reacted, she didn't think anything of it at all… I shouldn't either. I'm fine."

Vivi shares a tense glance with Sooyoung, and Sooyoung just lets out a sigh. "Do you want some of my scotch when we get back?" She offers.

"Keep your scotch. I don't want it." Haseul rolls her eyes.

Vivi just tilts her head. "I have peppermint Smirnoff in the cupboard."

Haseul pouts her lips and stands up. "...That sounds nice right about now."

"Really? Minty Russian water over my scotch? That's cold, Haseul. That's cold." Sooyoung throws her arms out to her sides, offended.

"Don't get lippy with me. That just means more for you." Haseul shakes her head and smooths out her clothes before heading to the door, "Don't follow me just yet. It'll look weird."

Vivi just frowns, but she doesn't stop Haseul from stepping out from the bedroom to join the others. Sooyoung doesn't say anything either, but she and Vivi share another glance once they're alone to themselves.

Haseul runs a hand through her hair and keeps her head low as she heads back into the living room, but she tries to look unbothered. She moves to take a seat next to Hyunjin, making a pointed effort to avoid being near Jinsoul in doing so.

"Where's Eevee and Vivi?" Hyunjin asks once Haseul steps into the living room.

"They fixed my lipstick but now they're messing up each other's." Haseul says with a wry smile, "Also I didn't want to have a three-way kiss with them under the mistletoe on the way out."

Hyunjin scrunches her nose at the thought. "Yeah. For our sake, please don't."

Haseul grins a little more genuinely as she sits down next to Hyunjin, and she keeps her gaze off of Jinsoul after she catches a glimpse of Jinsoul looking up at her when she sits down.

What Haseul doesn't see is the way that Jinsoul frowns when Haseul so obviously avoids her, her fingers grazing her lips as she glances downwards, remembering the kiss that happened only minutes before.

* * *

The rest of their conversations over the break are limited. Haseul messages Jinsoul on holidays, wishing her a good day, but they don't say much more than that. They talk a little to say when they're moving back in, and soon their spring semester starts and they settle back into the rhythm of things.

Yet Haseul acts differently when they do. She keeps a careful distance, not indulging Jinsoul in as much clinginess and affection as before. She does it for her own sake, to not raise her hopes, to give herself a chance at getting over whatever it is she's feeling. She can tell Jinsoul's trying to pull away from her too, because she's learned not to initiate as much, to give Haseul space. Their dynamic changes so obviously. They don't even study the same way together anymore. Haseul normally keeps to her own room, especially when she has to study for music, and Jinsoul stays in the living room. No more cat video rewards together anymore. Jinsoul watches things on her own to unwind, but Haseul doesn't give herself a break. She just works until she's done. She doesn't want a break where she can let her mind wander. She thinks it's for the best.

Their new routine lasts a few weeks, but eventually Jinsoul gets tripped up over some chapter for their psychology class together, and she goes to Haseul for help. Haseul can't say no, and she feels her heart break when Jinsoul asks it so negatively, so unsure of herself and so apologetic to take up Haseul's time when she needs space. Haseul feels terrible, and she doesn't want Jinsoul to blame herself anymore, so Haseul agrees to help, hoping that it can save their friendship, if only a little.

They work for hours going over the material, and Haseul has to think of multiple ways to rephrase it, since no way is truly sticking. Haseul sees Jinsoul's brow crease in frustration and determination to understand, and Jinsoul has a bad habit of sticking out her tongue whenever she concentrates. Haseul watches Jinsoul some as she works, and it brings a smile to her face to see Jinsoul's tongue peeking out of her lips as she reads. Her chest feels warm and it flutters at the sight, and Haseul realizes that she misses that feeling with Jinsoul. Even if she knows it hurts her in the long-run, Haseul loves how it makes her feel in the present. Haseul loves that warmth she gets in her chest around Jinsoul.

Their exam in that class isn't for another few days, so once it reaches a certain point, Haseul suggests that they take a break, since Jinsoul yawns more often as she works and rubs at her eyes. Haseul's even the one to suggest they watch some sort of video as a reward for their work, and it brings such a gleeful smile to Jinsoul's face, even if it is a little muted from sleepiness. Haseul holds out the other end of the blanket for Jinsoul to crawl under, and she pulls out a video compilation she knows is Jinsoul's favorite and plays it. It's only a ten minute long video, but less than halfway through, Jinsoul's head slumps against Haseul's shoulder, and Haseul hears a faint murmur from Jinsoul every few seconds. Jinsoul's breaths are soft and deep, and Haseul grins to herself at the sight of Jinsoul's sleeping form.

Grabbing a pillow on her side of the couch, Haseul rests it by the arm of the couch and coaxes Jinsoul to lay down, delicate and careful not to wake her. Once Jinsoul isn't on her anymore, Haseul stands up and adjusts the blanket, sure to cover every part of her body against the winter chill throughout the apartment. She fluffs the pillow a bit as well, and she's beyond glad that they keep a bedroom pillow in the living room just in case, so they don't have to sleep with those uncomfortable throw pillows.

Haseul kneels down next to the couch as she pulls the blanket over Jinsoul's shoulders, and she fixes some of Jinsoul's hair so it doesn't get caught when she moves in her sleep. Her gaze travels upwards, falling on Jinsoul's features, and Haseul takes the sight in for the first time in a while. She can see the slightest trace of brown growing in at Jinsoul's roots, and Haseul smiles faintly, knowing that they're going to have to work together again to bleach Jinsoul's hair. Haseul reaches out for the few strands of hair over Jinsoul's eyes and gingerly brushes them out of the way, letting her fingertips linger against Jinsoul's cheek. The skin is soft to the touch, and Haseul's lip part slightly the more she stares and the longer her fingertips linger. She feels another impulse at the back of her mind, and in the safety of Jinsoul's sleep, Haseul finally gives in.

She closes her eyes and leans forward, pressing her lips to Jinsoul's cheek, though it's so, so close to the corner of Jinsoul's mouth. Haseul lets her lips linger into the kiss for a little while longer before she slowly pulls away, but not without whispering something soft under her breath in parting.

"Sleep well, Jinsoul…" Haseul says softly as she stands up, and she moves to head back to her room, but she's stopped by a quiet giggle and slurred words.

"Heh, soulmate…" Jinsoul mumbles with a faint grin in her sleep, and Haseul freezes, petrified that Jinsoul was awake the whole time. Haseul remains still, seeing how Jinsoul doesn't move or do anything else, and Haseul just assumes that Jinsoul mistook Haseul for her soulmate in her dream.

It makes Haseul clench her jaw and hurry back to her room, doing her best to push Jinsoul's words to the back of her mind, but she can't. Haseul can't shake the way that Jinsoul speaks of her soulmate, longs for her soulmate, and it only reminds Haseul that Jinsoul isn't hers to have. Haseul can't even finally show her feelings to Jinsoul without Jinsoul mistaking it for someone else, for the person who's meant for her, and it just makes Haseul's heart snap as the realization settles in fully for her.

When Haseul wakes up the next morning with a pink trail attached to her finger, she knows, she knows that she can't keep clinging to a false hope with Jinsoul, and that the universe is so obviously trying to steer Haseul apart from Jinsoul and back onto her intended path.

* * *

Haseul keeps her pink trail hidden from Jinsoul as much as possible, and it works for a long while, with Jinsoul being none the wiser nor Jinsoul even thinking of looking for it. Haseul doesn't want to talk about it. Not yet. Not ever, really.

But Haseul gets careless after a while of keeping it from Jinsoul, and she fills the kittens' food bowls one night as Jinsoul returns from one of her classes, and Jinsoul walks into the kitchen to see Haseul playing with Oliver. She's scratching Oliver's stomach, and Oliver's wiggling around on his back, and there's a wide smile on Haseul's face the more she plays. She doesn't even know Jinsoul is with her in the room until she hears Jinsoul's giggle, and Haseul jumps from surprise, standing up immediately.

"Aww, I didn't mean to scare you…" Jinsoul says apologetically, but there's a hint of a grin on her face, "It's nice seeing you and Oliver getting along!" And Jinsoul looks down at Haseul's side to see the cat, but her gaze stops at Haseul's hand when she spots the pink trail coming off of her fingers.

"You…" Jinsoul begins cautiously, "You never told me you got your pink trail."

Haseul's breath hitches and she freezes, instinctively hiding her hand behind her back. She's halfway to blurting out some excuse, but Jinsoul beats her to the punch.

"Were you trying to hide it from me…?" Jinsoul asks, her voice soft and saddened, the hurt so obvious in her words.

Haseul feels her heart break instantly. "I'm so sorry, Jinsoul… It wasn't because of you that I didn't say anything. I promise it wasn't you."

"But… why? Aren't you happy to finally have a pink trail?" Jinsoul's eyebrows knit together from her own confusion, trying so hard to understand.

The realization hits Haseul instantly that she has to be honest, that she can't hide it anymore unless she wants Jinsoul to always doubt her. Jinsoul's staring at Haseul, looking so closely for an explanation, and Haseul knows anything less than the truth will ruin everything. Haseul shakes her head slowly and glances towards the ground. "No, I'm not…"

Haseul sees Jinsoul waiting for her to say why, and she draws in a sharp breath to brace herself, and she finally lets the words pass through her lips. "I fell in love with someone who isn't my soulmate, and this string is a constant reminder that she won't be mine."

Jinsoul's reaction is hard for Haseul to read, and there's sadness and sympathy for Haseul, but Haseul still sees the pain on Jinsoul's face, but she wonders if that pain is on her behalf or not. Jinsoul frowns deeply for Haseul and hesitantly steps closer, reaching out to place her hand on Haseul's arm before slowly sliding it down to hold Haseul's hand. "It's uncommon, but people date and fall in love outside of their strings too… Does she have a red string?"

Haseul shakes her head. "No. She's still waiting… She's waiting so eagerly for her red string that I don't have the heart to tell her and make her choose between the soulmate she's always wanted and me."

"Seulie…" Jinsoul frowns, squeezing Haseul's hand, "Even if she's not your soulmate, she'd be so lucky to have you…"

Haseul feels her eyes start to sting, a lump forming in her throat the more she's subjected to Jinsoul's sympathetic gaze. She can't even begin to explain how much it hurts, it hurts to have Jinsoul reassure her as if she isn't the one Haseul's in love with. Yet Jinsoul's words cause something to switch inside of Haseul, giving her just the tiniest bit of bravery, letting her give in to that impulse again. Before Haseul can second guess it, she pulls Jinsoul closer by their joined hands, and she stands on the tips of her toes and closes her eyes, pressing her lips to Jinsoul's. Haseul rests her hand on the back of Jinsoul's neck, taking a step forward to keep her balance as she tries to reach Jinsoul's height. And it still hurts, it hurts no matter how much emotion Haseul pours into that kiss, because she fears it's a goodbye, that it's something that'll ruin everything forever, and a tear drops from Haseul's eyes as she pulls away. Her lips immediately feel cold without the warmth of Jinsoul against her, and Haseul can't hold herself together anymore and she falls into Jinsoul's arms, grabbing at Jinsoul's sweater and crying no matter how badly she wants to stop.

"I don't want this stupid string on my finger anymore… I don't want to always have to look at it and feel my heart break because who I want isn't on the other end of it… I just want you, Jinsoul, even if that's what the string doesn't want for me…" Haseul chokes out in the middle of her sobs, burying herself into Jinsoul's neck. It's a mild relief that Jinsoul's arms slip around her waist, but Haseul just grips the fabric of Jinsoul's sweater tighter.

"Seulie…" Jinsoul says softly, but she's cut off before she can say another word.

"Ever since you got your pink string, you've been so excited to meet your soulmate, and I can't come between that… I don't want you to lose out on what you thought you'd never have because your string never formed… I'll get over it, but please… don't give it up for me!"

"Seulie." It's a lot more insistent, but again, she's ignored.

"And… And I don't want to lose you, either. I'm so sorry, Jinsoul… I'm so sorry all of this happened… It's all me and my stupid feelings' fault…" Haseul clenches her teeth tightly, and she finally stops talking, unable to get any words out between crying.

"Haseul!"

The sudden force in Jinsoul's tone makes Haseul jump, and she slowly pulls back, though she has to look away, wanting to hide her reddened, tearful face from Jinsoul. "I'm sorry…"

Jinsoul's hand comes to rest over the one that's gripping her sweater, and Jinsoul squeezes Haseul's hand. "I'm not going to give up anything."

Haseul shakes her head. "And you shouldn't, you deserve to be so happy with whoever your soulmate is meant to be, so please don't give up anything for me-"

"Haseul." Jinsoul says again, and while it has some force to it, there's a smile on her face, and it baffles Haseul. Was this some sick, twisted joke for Jinsoul? To have Haseul sobbing over how much she loves her?

But that grin just becomes so much more lively when she squeezes Haseul's hand again. "I don't have to give up anything, Haseul."

Haseul furrows her eyebrows questioningly, and Jinsoul answers her question for her.

"Your string." Jinsoul says gently, and Haseul glances down. Her left hand is the one covered by Jinsoul's own, and she's surprised to see a red trail suddenly sprout from Jinsoul's finger, and Haseul traces the string's length to its other end, only to find the red trail to be latched onto her own finger. Haseul blinks from surprise and leans back a bit, and she feels her breath leave her at once when she looks up at Jinsoul, seeing that smile on her lips.

"Mine changed color when you kissed me, and it led straight to you." Jinsoul tilts her head, and she pulls Haseul closer to her, one arm still wrapped around her waist.

"I'm your soulmate…" Haseul whispers in disbelief, her voice soft and barely audible.

"So, uh… If you're asking me to choose between you and you, I choose you." Jinsoul grins brightly, and it makes Haseul lower her head and laugh.

"I feel bad for the other me, then…" Haseul says playfully, but there's still something that's bothering her, "But... why didn't our strings go red immediately then?"

"Remember when you said my soulmate might not be ready for me?" Jinsoul asks, "I think we weren't ready yet. Like you said, you hated the idea of soulmates when we first met."

Haseul smiles faintly. "I don't hate the idea anymore, though…"

Jinsoul smiles too, and the warmth that she radiates makes Haseul feel so at home and so at ease. "Did you really fall in love with me without the red string?" She asks hesitantly, a nervous smile tugging at her lips.

A question like that brings a weightless feeling to Haseul's chest, and she laughs softly at the thought. "Falling in love with you  _gave_  me a string…"

"And falling for you gave me a pink one." Jinsoul admits with a sheepish grin, and she reaches out and wipes away the tears staining Haseul's cheeks.

Haseul smiles, she smiles so widely that she can feel it in her eyes, and she rests her head on Jinsoul's shoulder, hugging her tightly. "Even when we were friends, I just knew that your soulmate would be so lucky to have you…"

"Is she still lucky to have me?" Jinsoul asks with a cheery tone, swaying Haseul around in her arms.

"So, so lucky…" Haseul admits in a soft whisper, and she slowly pulls away again. Her eyes fall to Jinsoul's lips, and Haseul leans forward again, but it feels like a weight's been lifted off her shoulders, and instead of tears falling from her eyes as she kisses Jinsoul, Haseul has to fight back a smile when she feels Jinsoul kissing back.

And when she has to walk through campus and see everyone's strings, Haseul just has to look down at her own to bring a smile to her lips, no longer feeling suffocated to see everyone else's soulmates when she knows the perfect soulmate is at the end of the red string finally wrapped around her finger.

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me  
> twitter: haseulhae  
> curiouscat: velevet


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